God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Cain steadied himself onto Ruby's back as he prepared for the clash.

He immediately looked up the details of the {Phantasma} charging at him...

***

{Phantasma]: level 50 (Legendary)

Strength: 700.

Agility; 800.

Defense: 200.

Magic: 200.

Spirit: 300.

HP: 20,000/20,000.

MP: 9,300/10,000.

Skills: Death's Cut, Soul Strike, Soul Search, Elemental Control, Devil Empowerment, Blade Mastery lvl 3, Body Strengthening lvl 3, Regeneration lvl 1.

***

The moment Cain saw the stats of the {Phantasma}, he instantly knew he was about to face his toughest opponent yet. Not only were its stats greater than that of the {Hulking Behemoths}, but it also possessed a stat he had never seen in any other devil or mutant beast. the Spirit stat...

Cain stood at the forefront of the team ready to intercept the approaching devils with David to his right. Dan had already relocated to the rear of the group to defend against the attacks coming from that end.

Susan, Vincent, Steve, and Jenny were at the center, while Li, Manny, Blaze, and Hunter were stationed at the sides, and back. Like this, they formed a cross shape with the casters and ranged attackers at the center, and the melee attackers and defenders at the edges.

An army of 100 against a party of less than ten seemed like a far stretch, especially considering the fact that every single {Hulking Behemoth} was a powerful entity. They were leagues above the {Devil Fighters} and {Miasma Devils}, and would not go down even after numerous attacks.

Not only were they strong, but they were also incredibly intelligent and coordinated. As soon as they had reached a certain distance, about half of the {Hulking Behemoth} army stopped their charge abruptly, while the rest continued on. They formed a very tight outer ring that trapped both Cain's party and the charging devils together.

The devils that had stopped to create the outer ring stretched their arms out and began casting out their spells...

"Icicle Blast!"

"Greater Flame!"

"Metal Spikes!"

"Rolling Boulders!"

"Geyser Eruption!"

All sorts of spells flew across the sky toward Cain's group.

"Crimson Dome." David whispered in a hushed tone, mana spreading out of his body like a blooming flower.

However, before they could cause any damage, they were all stopped by David's signature spell...

"Damn it! These spells are strong! Far stronger than anything I've ever taken from these devils!" David said through gritted teeth as he dug his heels into the dirt to support his body that was bearing the force of the seemingly unending barrage of spells.

Despite all these spells falling like hail, the spell casting devils didn't hit a single one of their comrades, their spells managing to accurately smash against the {Crimson Dome}.

Seeing that their spells were ineffective against David's defense, the devils didn't seem a bit panicked as they made way for a devil that had white lines streaked all over its body, and arcs of lightning zipping across its devil core and bladed forelimbs.

This devil was a bit bigger than the rest, just like the devil with the chakrams, Jamiel. Its unique appearance was enough to tell David that this devil was bad news...

"Kekeke... I'll break that shell open in no time!" A devil that was a part of the ring enclosing Cain and the others spoke in a thick raspy voice as nets of lightning began weaving together at its command.

The nets ran through the air like slippery snakes, eventually forming an even bigger net that clasped down onto the {Crimson Dome} like a Hunter's trap.

"Lightning Net..."

Hundreds of thousands of volts traveled straight through the {Lightning Net} and into the {Crimson Dome} David had erected.

Although the spell worked the best against magical and non-physical attacks, it all depended on the caster's endurance and ability to resist magic damage.

"ARGHHHH!" David yelled in pain as he was forced to bear the brunt of excruciating pain. Any damage the {Crimson Dome} suffered was directly linked to his health pool. This meant that the damage dealt to the barrier was damage done to him since the HP pool was just a numerical representation of the health of the individual.

Lucking, David's health pool and magic defense were strong enough to bear the intensity of the damage. He also wasn't fighting alone...

"Light of Instant Healing..." Susan cast a healing spell on David, instantly restoring him to full health.

"Thanks..." David said as he wiped the cold sweat forming on his brows away.

"Tch! Increase the tempo... We want that barrier down as soon as possible." The lightning attribute {Hulking Behemoth}, stared at the still standing {Crimson Dome} with a displeased expression.

Zengu, the lightning elemental attribute devil was the second most powerful {Hulking Behemoth} under the leadership of J'orntz, the first being Jamiel. It also specialized in magical ranged attacks.

There existed two types of spawn devils...

The first being those with skills centered towards melee combat, and the other those that specialized in ranged magical or non-magical attacks. Different {Broodmothers} could create different spawn devils depending on a multitude of factors.

For example, the {Broodmother} Cain and the others were about to face could create a generous amount of different species or types of devils. Some {Broodmothers} could create only a specific type of spawn devil, while others could create thousands upon thousands of different species of spawn devils that would later evolve into true devils.

Not only did the spawn devils vary by type, but they also varied by the sort of element they could control. After all, devils excelled best at stealing mana from their host planet, turning it into a lifeless shell over time...

A {Broodmother} absorbed the life energy of mutant plants and animals, as well as the rich mana in the atmosphere. As a result, the {Broodmother} possessed the ability to give the spawn devils she birthed all sorts of magical elemental attributes.

However, this came with its own limitations as well...

The ability for a broodmother to grant elemental attributes to her spawn devils was heavily reliant on her grade, level, and most importantly, type...

The spells kept on crashing down on the {Crimson Dome} as the melee devils made their way over to engage in armed combat. Although the {Crimson Dome} was able to block magical attacks, it was completely useless against physical attacks. Hence, the devils would be able to attack them as freely as they wanted once they entered close-range

At this time, the {Phantasma} had already almost reached Cain.

"Let's go, Ruby!" Cain yelled as he urged Ruby to charge out of the range of the {Crimson Dome} to meet with the {Phantasma}

'Okay, Master!' Ruby kicked up a storm of dust as she burst forth with incredible speed.

"Art of Fire: Flame Orb..." Cain turned his outstretched palm into a claw, grasping at a spinning orb of flames that burst out of a magic circle that appeared on his palm.

With the aid of {Mana Heart}, MP regen potions, and a few liters of mutant beast blood, he was able to bring his mana pool to half of its original volume.

Cain kept pouring his mana into the spell, causing the {Flame Orb} to grow in size until it was the size of a basketball. Cain had his {Devil's Broken Claw} in one hand, and a red hot ball of destruction in the other.

Cain didn't spare a moment of rest for the {Phantasma} as soon as he had locked onto it, he launched the {Flame Orb}. Like a bullet fresh out of the chamber, the spell traveled faster than the speed of sound. In the blink of an eye, the terrifying spell that was loaded with enough fire attribute mana to burn a building down to a crisp was already in front of the approaching {Phantasma}.

However, before the spell could make contact, there was a flash of green light...

In a split second, a blade with an uncanny resemblance to the {Devil's Broken Claw} in Cain's possession appeared in the hands of the {Phantasma}.

'The Devil's Broken Claw?' Cain was a bit surprised to see the same sword he held being used by his opponent...

SWISH!

It grasped the blade with a single hand and swung down violently. The approaching {Flame Orb} was instantly split in two.

BANG!

The orb was cut open like an orange, and its two halves fell to both sides of the {Phantasma}, exploding upon making contact with the ground. Two craters were created, black dirt flying all over the place.

Unfazed, the {Phantasma} continued its charge as though it had never been interrupted...

The gem on its forehead glowed as it cast a spell at Cain.

"Soul Strike."

The same spell it had used on Cain was used again, causing Cain to feel sharp pain in his head, and blood pool in his throat. His face instantly turned pale, and his vision, blurry. However, he forced the sweet coppery taste down and bit his lower lip to regain focus.

'I knew it was going to be tough...' Cain said to himself as he prepared another {Flame Orb}

'But I didn't expect fighting like this to be so hard...'

Cain created a few magic circles around him, then began launching {Flame Orb} after {Flame Orb} at the {Phantasma}. J'orntz didn't dodge at all as he slashed down on the {Flame Orbs}, his charge never stopping for even a second.

Cain also spurred Ruby on as they both charged, ready to draw blood...

'I'll need to find a way to guard against those mental attacks.' Cain thought to himself as they drew closer.

Suddenly, the gem on the head of J'orntz flashed again...

'Here it comes!' Cain steeled his mind, prepared to deal with whatever the {Phantasma} charging at him wanted to throw his way...

However, this time, the target of the {Phantasma} wasn't Cain...

"ROAR!" Ruby let out a pitiful cry of pain as the {Soul Strike} slammed into her, causing her to tumble like a broken sack of meat onto the ground, nearly dragging Cain under as well.

Luckily for Cain, he was able to react fast enough, jumping off of Ruby's back in the nick of time.

Cain's eyes burned with fury and worry as he gazed at the collapsed body of Ruby. Regardless of what Ruby was, she was of value to Cain, and he had come to know and understand her a bit. Plus, they had a connection that was deeper than the surface level...

"You bastard!" Cain yelled out as he dove down at J'orntz.

"Hahaha! Absolutely pathetic!" J'orntz let out a perverse laugh as he also let his blade trace its path toward Cain.

"Golden Severance!"

Cain let the blinding cutting power of the metal element build up on the surface of his blade as he slammed down with all his strength points. {Golden Severance} was one of the strongest skills in his arsenal, and had become very deadly with his continued use of it...

"Death's Cut." Without even flinching, an emerald green glow enveloped the body of J'orntz {Devil's Broken Claw}. The green glow seemed to be capable of splitting even space itself, leaving ripples behind as J'orntz twirled it majestically in the air, setting it against Cain's attack.

One as radiant as the sun...

The other as brilliant as a rare gem...

They clashed the edges of their blades for the first time...

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